Meredith Mansfield, Author

Unscheduled extra post this week to update the elevator pitches.

1. BLOOD WILL TELL : A half-werewolf and a dragon in disguise join forces to rescue an innocent woman from an unknown attacker. Without knowing who or why, each tries to solve the mystery in their own way. But a decades-old crime and the dragon’s true identity may destroy their collaboration just when their enemy has found their hide out.
2. MAGE STORM : All Rell knows of magic is the damage it caused in the Great Mage War when all the magic users destroyed each other and parts of their world, like the Blighted Forest just beyond Rell’s home. People believe that the magic died with the mages until Rell develops an unexpected ability he can’t restrain. With every strong emotion sparking uncontrolled magic, Rell has to find someone who can help him learn to control this gift for his own safety and everyone else’s.
3. SEVEN STARS : Because she bears the berserker curse, Casora has been raised to be a warrior from birth. After releasing the berserker in battle, Casora has two goals: to fight the enemy that overran her home and to find a cure for her curse. She might accomplish both with the help of Tiaran, a young prince whose gullibility and desire to prove himself strand him on the wrong side of the marauding army.
4. THE BARD’S GIFT: Whether she wants it or not, Dorata has the Bard’s Gift. Along with the ability to tell a compelling story, sometimes the ancient gods give her the story she must tell. A believer in the new god, Dorata struggles against this gift until she realizes how it can help her people as they face the challenges of wresting a new home from the wilderness, dragons, and malevolent neighbors.

Hmm. It’s amazing what reducing a story to a couple of sentences will do. It’s been pointed out that several of my stories seem to revolve around unwanted magic.  Of course, it’s really a little early to be writing this kind of pitch for THE BARD’S GIFT. That one’s still in development and anything except the basic premise of her gift could–and likely will–change before I actually start writing it.

In other news, I’m making very good progress on the revision to BLOOD WILL TELL over the last couple of days. I officially passed the half-way point this morning.